Uduegbunam ChukwujamaThe Management of MTN Nigeria has directed all MTN shops across the country to shut down on Tuesday February 28, 2023 following fears of attacks as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announces results for the Presidential Election.
Prime Business Africa reports that MTN Nigeria has already sent out notices to staff and its partners to prepare for the shutdown beginning on Tuesday. It is, however, not clear how long the closure will last as the notice sighted by our Correspondent did not specify when the shops are expected to reopen.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe closure notice, which was sent to all MTN shops and partners in Nigeria in the evening of Monday, February 27, 2023, reads:”Y’ello Team, Trust you are keeping safe. This is to bring to your attention that all shops are advised to close tomorrow, February 28th. Further information will be provided tomorrow. Thank you.”
There has been palpable fear over the outcome of Nigeria’s presidential election as INEC continues to declare results at the ICC Abuja Collation Centre contrary to the wishes of opposition parties which insist that the official figures are in dissonance with the actual results at the polling units. INEC had, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and its promise to Nigerians, failed to upload original results to the IREV but took results directly to states’ collation centres.
INEC had said there was no internal sabotage, although prior to the 2023 general elections, the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, had hinted that INEC’s data base could be under attack.
READ: Hackers Attack INEC Server – Chairman Yakubu Reveals
Recall that Labour Party has criticized the results as fraudulent and insisted on its cancellation. READ: Presidential Poll: Labour Party Rejects Results, Says ‘We Can Only Accept Real Results From Polling Units’.
Agents of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), led by Dino Melaye, and other political parties also staged a walk-out on the INEC Chairman as he continued to announce the ‘controversial’ results.
READ ALSO: 2023 Polls: Dino Melaye, Other Party Agents Walk Out Of Abuja Collation Centre
Many of the results from states are yet to be uploaded to the IREV, three days after the election as the Commission continues to announce results in Abuja.
Youths had protested INEC’s approach and called for release of original results as announced at the polling units. Many of them who besieged the INEC’s National Collation Centre at the ICC Abuja, insisted that Nigeria is not for sale and that the right thing must be done.
READ: “Nigeria Not For Sale, “INEC Keep Your Promises”— Nigerian Youths
President Olusegun Obasanjo, in an Open Letter to President Muhammadu Buhari and INEC said the results did not refelect the will of the Nigerian people and urged President Muhamadu Buhari to prevail on INEC to cancel the election in places where there were disruptions.
the shut down of MTN shops in Nigeria on Tuesday is believed to have arisen from the fears that their facilities could be targeted in case of any crisis, considering that placard-carrying youths had already expressed dissatisfaction with the 2023 Presidential election outcomes.
There were report of ethnic attacks in Lagos, forcing Presidential Candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, to call for calm.
READ: Tinubu Reacts To Defeat In Lagos, Condemns Ethnic Attacks
READ ALSO: Pan-Nigerian Aggregation, Not Peter Obi, Defeated Tinubu In Lagos
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